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Area ports are putting more cargo on trains
Truck alternative called environmental plus
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
BY JOE MALINCONICO
Star-Ledger Staff
Anyone sandwiched between two trucks in bumper-to-bumper traffic on northern New Jersey highways might find this hard to believe.
But a growing number of cargo containers from Port Newark and Port Elizabeth are heading out from the docks on trains instead of on trucks, according to statistics released yesterday.
Under the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's ExpressRail program, freight trains handled 338,882 cargo containers from the ports last year, a 11.8 percent increase.
Port Authority officials estimate that about 13 percent of all cargo from ports is now being shipped by rail, compared to 9.4 percent in 1999. A shift of a few percentage points might not seem like much, but at a port that handles almost 3 million cargo containers a year, that increase represents hundreds of trucks a day.
"This has clearly been a solution that makes the port more efficient, alleviates congestion and helps the environment," said Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia.
The agency has invested $600 million to improve rail links to the ports, including several projects scheduled to begin operation this year, and it hopes trains will handle as many as 1.5 million cargo boxes by 2011.
It's not often that a government program gets support from environmental activists as well as from business leaders. But ExpressRail seems to do that.
"It's good for the health of the port as well as for the health of the families who live around there," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club of New Jersey. "The counties around the port have some of the worst air quality in the state. A lot of it comes from the trucks."
"I can't see a downside to it," said Paul Lioy of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, a joint program of Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "The more trucks you have, the more emissions you have. They idle a lot. This seems to be a good approach to deal with some of the problems down there."
Basically, the Port Authority's ExpressRail is composed of three main projects.
In 2006, the agency expanded the rail program at the docks in Elizabeth so the terminal could handle up to 400,000 containers a year. In the next two months, officials expect to complete an expansion that would double the capacity of the Port Newark rail terminal to 100,000 cargo boxes a year. Finally, a new rail terminal at the docks in Staten Island that would handle up to 100,000 containers per year is scheduled to begin service this spring.
So far, trucking companies have not complained about the rail system, even though it may be taking away some of their business.
"Right now, there's enough work down there for everybody," said Sam Cunninghame, head of government relations for Bi-State Motor Carriers, the group that represents port trucking companies.
Port executives see the ExpressRail program as essential to their economic survival, especially as terminals in South Atlantic states improve their rail capacity.
For the most part, cargo destined for businesses a few hundred miles from the ports still goes by truck, officials said. But rail connections are essential in winning the competition for cargo that's heading out to the Midwest, officials said.
"There's been tremendous growth at the ports and we're trying to keep its momentum going," Coscia said.
[/b]
Area ports are putting more cargo on trains
Truck alternative called environmental plus
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
BY JOE MALINCONICO
Star-Ledger Staff
Anyone sandwiched between two trucks in bumper-to-bumper traffic on northern New Jersey highways might find this hard to believe.
But a growing number of cargo containers from Port Newark and Port Elizabeth are heading out from the docks on trains instead of on trucks, according to statistics released yesterday.
Under the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's ExpressRail program, freight trains handled 338,882 cargo containers from the ports last year, a 11.8 percent increase.
Port Authority officials estimate that about 13 percent of all cargo from ports is now being shipped by rail, compared to 9.4 percent in 1999. A shift of a few percentage points might not seem like much, but at a port that handles almost 3 million cargo containers a year, that increase represents hundreds of trucks a day.
"This has clearly been a solution that makes the port more efficient, alleviates congestion and helps the environment," said Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia.
The agency has invested $600 million to improve rail links to the ports, including several projects scheduled to begin operation this year, and it hopes trains will handle as many as 1.5 million cargo boxes by 2011.
It's not often that a government program gets support from environmental activists as well as from business leaders. But ExpressRail seems to do that.
"It's good for the health of the port as well as for the health of the families who live around there," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club of New Jersey. "The counties around the port have some of the worst air quality in the state. A lot of it comes from the trucks."
"I can't see a downside to it," said Paul Lioy of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, a joint program of Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "The more trucks you have, the more emissions you have. They idle a lot. This seems to be a good approach to deal with some of the problems down there."
Basically, the Port Authority's ExpressRail is composed of three main projects.
In 2006, the agency expanded the rail program at the docks in Elizabeth so the terminal could handle up to 400,000 containers a year. In the next two months, officials expect to complete an expansion that would double the capacity of the Port Newark rail terminal to 100,000 cargo boxes a year. Finally, a new rail terminal at the docks in Staten Island that would handle up to 100,000 containers per year is scheduled to begin service this spring.
So far, trucking companies have not complained about the rail system, even though it may be taking away some of their business.
"Right now, there's enough work down there for everybody," said Sam Cunninghame, head of government relations for Bi-State Motor Carriers, the group that represents port trucking companies.
Port executives see the ExpressRail program as essential to their economic survival, especially as terminals in South Atlantic states improve their rail capacity.
For the most part, cargo destined for businesses a few hundred miles from the ports still goes by truck, officials said. But rail connections are essential in winning the competition for cargo that's heading out to the Midwest, officials said.
"There's been tremendous growth at the ports and we're trying to keep its momentum going," Coscia said.
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